The present invention relates to the field of electronic communications and, more particularly, to improving communications security by enforcing offline consumptions and auto-termination of electronic messages.
The use of electronic messages (e.g., emails, instant messages, text messages, etc.) for communication has become a key part of many aspects of daily life—home, office, social, and community. As with any type of communications, keeping an electronic message private between two parties is a challenge. While many communications systems utilize the latest in encryption and/or security protocols to protect the message while in transit, many communications systems lack the ability for the sender to prevent a recipient from re-transmitting the message. For example, an executive would not want a manager to forward or leak an email listing employees who are on a list of upcoming lay-offs.
A variety of organizational-level techniques exist for limiting the distribution of sensitive information in the form of electronic messages. For example, government agencies have segregated communications systems—one communications system for general communications and a separate communications system for sensitive information. This approach incurs the cost of running two separate communications systems and still relies upon the individual user to not take additional measures to redistribute information.
A small organization, public, or commercial communications system typically cannot afford such overhead and tends to rely solely on user discretion. These communications systems lack the ability to restrict the handling of electronic messages by recipients to prevent retransmission.